In the kitchen, Daniel moved through his baking ritual, gathering ingredients with practiced efficiency. Flour, butter, sugar, chocolate.
The familiar motions should have centered him, but his hands trembled slightly as he measured each ingredient. The metal scoop clinked against the bowl louder than usual in the quiet house.
“Come on, Daniel,” he muttered to himself, but his mind kept circling back to the woman upstairs. His mate. The word still sent a jolt through him, equal parts wonder and terror.
Because it wasn’t just about him. It never could be.
He thought of Maisie and Teddy, still sleeping upstairs. His children. The two small people who had reshaped his entire world, given him purpose beyond anything he’d known before. They came first…always. The fierce protectiveness that surged through him whenever he thought of them flared now, hot and uncompromising.
What if Holly didn’t want them? What if, when she learned about mates and what that meant, she rejected not just him but his children, too?
His bear growled in protest.She wouldn’t. She’s ours. And theirs. You’ve seen what she’s like with them.
We don’t know that,Daniel said, working butter into flour with more force than necessary.We don’t really know her atall. All we know is that she left her wedding. We don’t know whether she will be willing to leave her old life for good.There’s a big difference between surviving a storm and choosing a whole new future.
She’ll stay,his bear said firmly.
He hoped that was true. He’d seen her gentleness with the kids last night, the way she’d helped with bedtime, accepted Teddy’s hug, braided Maisie’s hair with such care.
She’s a real mama bear,his bear said proudly.
The kitchen filled with the rich scent of warming chocolate and butter as Daniel slid the first batch of pastries into the oven. He set the timer and turned to start the coffee, only to freeze in place. How had he not sensed her approaching?
Holly stood in the doorway, sleep-rumpled, dressed in his oversized clothes, her dark hair tumbling in messy waves around her face. Soft morning light from the window caught on the curve of her cheek, making her look almost unreal. He swallowed hard as her eyes, still heavy with sleep, found his.
“Morning,” she said, her voice husky and incredibly sexy. “I smelled chocolate.”
Daniel’s heart stuttered as he absorbed every detail of his mate.
Speak,his bear prompted.
“Pain au chocolat,” he managed, gesturing to the oven. “Coffee’s just about to start.”
Holly moved into the kitchen, her socked feet silent on the tile. “Can I help with anything?”
“Just sit,” Daniel said, pulling out a stool at the counter. “You’re the guest.”
For now, his bear added.
Later, they both hoped, she’d be something else.
She settled onto the stool. “I feel like I should be earning my keep, considering the circumstances.”
Daniel busied himself with the coffee maker, grateful for something to do with his hands. “Circumstances being that you were stranded in a blizzard and I happened to drive by?”
“When you put it that way, it sounds so ordinary,” Holly said, and there was something in her voice—a lightness that hadn’t been there yesterday—that made him turn to look at her.
She was smiling, a small, private curve of her lips that did strange things to his insides. The bleak, shuttered look from the night before had eased, just a little.
“Nothing about yesterday was ordinary,” Daniel said before he could stop himself.
Their eyes held for a moment too long, and Daniel felt that pull again, the invisible tether that seemed to draw them together. He turned back to the coffee maker, his pulse quickening.
“How do you take your coffee?” he asked, reaching for mugs.
“Black is fine,” Holly replied. “I’m not picky.”
Daniel poured two cups and slid one across the counter to her. Their fingers brushed as she accepted it, and even that brief contact sent warmth spreading up his arm.
